Improvement in wooden mats for picture-frames



Wooden Mats furjPi rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Patented Dc. 30,1873;

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llnlllmllillllun UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

HENRY s. HALE, 0E PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIGNoE TonALE, IIILEUENa co., or sAME rLAcE.

IMPROVEMENT IN WOODEN MATS FOR PICTURE-FRAMES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 146,067, dated December30, 1873; application filed August 15, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY S. HALE, of the city and county ofPhiladelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented `an Improved WoodenMat for PictureAFrames, of which the following is a specification:

The object of my invention is the production of awooden mat forpicture-frames which shall not be so liable to warp as the wooden matsheretofore constructed. I attain this object by making a frame composedof four pieces, A, A', A, and A, united at the points shown in the`accompanying drawing, and then veneering both sides ot' the frame, asshown.

In the patent, No. 120,250, granted to my present assignees October 24,1871, the applicant, H. W. Curtis, describes a wooden mat composed offour pieces, united at the points ac m, instead of at the corners, thegrain of the wood in each piece having an inclined direction; this planbeing adopted partly to avoid the unsightly opening of the ordinarycorner joints, partly on the score of economy in the consumption of thewood, and partly to prevent warping. ,In making thick wooden mats thisplan served the desired purpose; but I have found comparatively thinmats made in accordance with this plan would become more or less warped,and that the joints were weak, owing to the limited surface forreceiving the glue.

I have made thin wooden mats of three i veneers glued together in such amanner that the grain of the wood of one `veneer crossed that of theadjoining veneer at right angles; but I did not succeed by this plan inpreventing the frame from warping. To meet this difficulty I adopt, aspart of my present invention, the plan described in the aforesaidpatent-that is to say, I make the body of the frame in four pieces, andunite, as shown,

and then glue to the'back a strip of veneerin g,

B, and to the front a similar veneer, D.

By this arrangement I obtain all the advantages of the patented mat,while the joints, which, in the thin wood, would be Vtoo weak, areeii'ectually protected by the veneers. i But the most important resultis attained by the arrangement which involves the crossing of` the grainof the intermediate frame by that of the veneers at an angle offorty-tive degrees, or thereabout, and by the crossing of the grain oftwo parts of the frame, by the y veneers, at an angle the reverse 'ofthat atl which the grain of the same veneer crosses that of the othertwo portions of the intermediate frame.

I have found, in practice, that a much more homogeneous mat, and onemore free from liability to warp, may be thus constructed than by makingit of three veneers with grains crossing each other at right angles.

Disclaiining a mat composed of three veneers- I claim as my invention-The within-described wooden mat, composed of an intermediate frame made'of four pieces, united as shown, and having veneers glued to the saidframe in respect Vto the grain of its wood, as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY S. HALE.

Witnesses:

HARRY SMITII, HUBERT HowsoN.

